The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-01-12
A RUIN0U POLICY.


their fellows. Social and natural laws
are so framed thai no one Can wrong
m kind without working an injury to
b "a ell; but the PEI alty seems often so
distant that few dare not make the
risk IL there be reason to believe q
tenn or4rv advantage may De gained
The strange spectacle is now presented
in Utah, OF men, whose fortunes are
due to the good will OF a com muni,y y,
turning against the commu iitv and
joining gang of adventurers o
hope to gain power and wealth by
the enslavlng and robbery OF people.
1t seems 100 unnatural to be credited
even IN such an age A league ha~
been organized in Utah whose purpose
IS by money donations and by other
means, to have passed such laws as
will place the people of Utah poliucslly
within the power of minority lacking
that reputation which wins respect IL
communities. Not only is this trte
but should those measures they advo-
cate Oh ain, the wealth Of Utah will
practically be in the hands of men who
lack the confidence OF the vast bulk of
the people-the great majority of those
interested in The material condition of
the Territory. The avowed purpose OF
this attack is to cripple and destroy a
religion. and as the lives and the IN
diving character of the people are III
separately identified with this religion,
then they too must be crushed. 1t can
hardly be believed that men with large
N neyed and landed interests in Titan
can be SO lost to all reasonable foresight
as not to see that such a condition
would be ruinous TO them. The dis
asterSof he Mormon people will mean
financial disaster to every man who
holds an interest in Utah to which
there Is or can be fuctuating value.
Excessive taxation of Mormon property
means q decrease in. value and de
crease in the value of one mans real
estate betokens decrease in all d1rec-
tons. Already there are men in Utah
and some OF them Mormons-wLc
have lost SO much from the shrinkage
in values, real estate and otherwise
brought about by the conditions Which
a few malcontents and would be plum
der rs bave imposed upon an induSIri-
GUS community, that they can not
regain the ground in ten years. If
wealthy Mormons find that there is a
decrease in the value of their local
interests, is it possible that rich
non Mormons imagine they can main
tain their interests unaffected? Hardly.
The bill, which the Loyal League
is endeayoring to have passed
and to which money is being
subscribed, means the destruction OF
Utah politically, the placing of al
offices and all powers of taxation and
expenditure in the hands of men who
will be, in the main, if not entirely,
without material interests in Utah, and
whose purpose will be to fatten as fast
as they can and keep out of jail, and to
suppress as rebelhcus every sentiment
which may be uttered against them and
their methods. 1t is difficult to COM
prehend the lethargy of the moneyed
meu of Utah when they have such en-
ormouYinterests at stake.
BUTT may give US, ultimately, peace
and prosperity" urge some. Never.
There is never, nor ever can be. peace
where people are enslaved and robbed.
The robbery OF the people of their
rights, and their ruin by excessive tax
alton will not solve the Mormon Ques-
ton. We do not pretend to be prophets,
but there is one prediction we will VEN
ture to make, serenely confident OF its
ia i, c9J because it Is the ripened re-
So vi histo heal experience: Instead
OF prosperity following measures which
ROB Mormons Of political power, every
additional infringement of their rights
will bring in It's wake great misery and
uncertainty and an uasettling of values
which now seem firm. Surely men
have lived in vain who imagine that
prosperity can be forced; and noae but
madmen ever dream that capital
will enter a dominion where there
is no restraint upon taxation,
and where the community, which has
all at stake can have no voice in the
administration of affairs. If men were
half as fond of reason and of justice as
they are of money. they would pause long
before advocating the methods which
now claim their sympathy. Utah Will
not be the first instance of the killing OF
the hen that laid the golden egg; nor
will it be the first time that men of
means have run their necks into q
ruinous moose at the bidding OF plaus.
IDLE adven .urers. II it is possible that
reason can have an eight, let US give
q little reason:
Money is not prosperity. Capital is
not prosperity. Sane men accept these
propositions. They accept them be
cause, while wealth or capital increases
from year to year, it is by no means a